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Storage and Cryopreservation of in Vitro Cultures

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Part of the book series: Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry ((AGRICULTURE,volume 17))

Abstract

Cells and tissue cultures are normally stored in a well-lighted room at 25 °C (Fig. 1). However, this requires periodic transfer to fresh media, involving not only man-power and high costs, but also the hazards of contamination, and sometimes the loss of the entire material/germplasm. Moreover, the cell cultures retained on periodic subcultures undergo genetic erosion, such as change in ploidy level, mutations, endomitosis, translocation, gene amplification, etc. Thus, genetic stability of some of the useful somaclonal cell lines generated in vitro cannot be ensured. Another important aspect is the conservation of germplasm. The existing germplasm banks for plants are customarily supplied by seed collections. Although seeds offer an effective storage system for genetic material, they are usually variable and the plants obtained from them do not show the actual traits of the mother plants. At present, there are no reliable methods for the long-term conservation of germplasm from vegetatively propagated crops and those of plants with recalcitrant seed. Moreover, the germplasm of rare, elite, and endangered plant species must be conserved. To circumvent these problems, in vitro methods are being developed/refined, both for short- and long-term storage, and for the conservation of germplasm (see Bajaj 1986a). Cryopreservation of in vitro cultures in liquid nitrogen has enabled plant recovery in a number of species and has been recommended for the long-term storage of germplasm, especially that of the vegetatively propagated crops (Bajaj 1990a).

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Bajaj, Y.P.S. (1991). Storage and Cryopreservation of in Vitro Cultures. In: Bajaj, Y.P.S. (eds) High-Tech and Micropropagation I. Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry, vol 17. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76415-8_20

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